Pop Montreal review: Maica Mia and Petra Glynt at La Vitrola

Maica Mia and Petra Glynt
Friday, September 19th
La Vitrola

It’s refreshing to see such a strong female presence at this year’s POP MTL. There are some incredibly talented ladies living in Canada, and Maica Armata is a testimony to that. The model-esque Armata blusters raw, haunting vocal tones over gloomy guitar riffs that could easily be the soundtrack to a psychedelic hallucination. Drummer Jonny Paradise, the other half of Maicamia, hits his skins with a primal instinct. The lack of polish coating Maicamia leaves the band bare on stage, exposing their core, unveiling each sound as organic, and unadorned. They played to a small crowd who seemed completely arrested, a kaleidoscope of symmetrical visuals flicking behind the band. Armata and Paradise vibrated, wavering along the highs and lows of their exploratory sound.

Alexandra Mackenzie, the woman whose moniker is Petra Glynt, sauntered and swayed side stage during the final Maicamia songs. Her outfit screamed ‘visual artist,’ sporting an oversized jersey, animal print jacket, toque, and mini skirt that all worked together so flawlessly it could not have been planned. The table holding Glynt’s various pedals was draped in a metallic sheet that seemed to reflect all the colours of the spectrum; mystifying and opulent like Glynt herself. Her lo-fi psych pop is effervescent: flirting with tribal rhythms, rumbling samples, and hollowed out melodies. She played a large tom onstage, lashing at the drum with vigor.  However, Glynt’s vocals happen to be the bona fide star. Her voice is unparalleled, extraordinary, traveling great distances at high speeds with brute force. Her performance did not falter for a second. Glynt bellowed out her single, “Sour Paradise,” in a voice bold and salient, tropical visuals looping behind her demanding the audience imagine warmer places. She is lush on stage, a pleasure to watch, inspiring and powerful.